Yvette Fielding, We Need To Talk About Your Ghost Problem.

There was a time when I would be glued to the television set when Most Haunted was on the screen because I thought it was a factual programme because you ensured us that nothing was staged on so many occasions. I still have my DVD collection somewhere in the house which I used to love. In 2005 I created my own paranormal research organisation inspired by what the Most Haunted team did because I became disillusioned with your promises of authenticity and the behaviour that you and your crew exhibited in your so-called pursuit of contact with ghosts. Back then I believed in ghosts and I was appalled by the manner in which you “spoke” to the ghosts. Particularly those women and men accused of witchcraft on Pendle Hill.

It was my opinion that if the dead did roam this planet after death then the souls of these people in particular deserved more respect than you afforded them considering the fact that witchcraft isn’t real, they weren’t witches and they were persecuted and executed by people who favoured superstition above reason. That particular Most Haunted Live show was hailed a success because of the rate at which members of the team were “attacked” by ghosts and dragged out of the building by the security team for their own safety.

Yet, even as a naive gullible 18-year-old, I couldn’t even pretend to believe what was happening in that building on Pendle Hill. I don’t have conclusive evidence that you fake activity on the show, but your reliance on dodgy psychics (Kreed Kafer… need I say more?) and the lack of good evidence that supports your claims that your “proof” has a supernatural cause might just speak for itself. There are also videos online that raise questions about your honesty on the show, like the two below:

Through the power of suggestion, use of camera-work that focusses on people rather than their surroundings and a “just asking questions” approach that relies on folklore and historic accounts you have managed to build mysteries where none exist and that’s quite an achievement. All of this is why I couldn’t help but laugh cynically when you recently complained in an interview that if you found evidence of a ghost nobody would believe you. In the interview you state ‘if we did film a real ghost on camera, people would say we faked it anyway … You can never, ever win.”

Yet, this isn’t because those who disbelieve you are in the wrong here, Yvette. It’s because people feel that they cannot trust you or the show Most Haunted to be honest when you claim it is. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the boy who cried wolf and you, Yvette, are that boy.

Without the “dodgy” stunts on Most Haunted I would not have started to truly question the claims of the people around me and I would not have been led to my current position. Yet you will receive no thanks from me for bringing about this because the bastardised version of paranormal research presented by Most Haunted and other similar shows has almost ruined the field of paranormal research – a field that used to have to put up with idiots occasionally but, on the whole, was driven by a curiosity that was kept in check by a scientific methodology. Now it is overrun with unethical ghost hunters who favour psuedo-science rather than science. It is tainted by people who don’t really give a damn about maintaining an open-mind but are pursuing what they believe to be an easy rise to fame as the next paranormal superstar with their own show, books and lecture tours.

That’s your legacy, Yvette, and that’s why nobody will believe you when you say “ghost!”

Hayley is a ghost geek and started to blog in 2007. She uses scientific scepticism to investigate weird stuff and writes about it here while also speaking publicly about how to hunt ghosts as a skeptic.

22 Comments on Yvette Fielding, We Need To Talk About Your Ghost Problem.

Prgram for fools,foolheartef investigators that have investigation methods based on how they see the fake,staging scream machines and for getting stone tossing crap. Sorry but its about time the paranormal community stood up and unity and did something about these fools. It dresearching investigators better but worse!

And now the have got rid on that usless door stopper Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe That was ment to bring a scietific balance to the show when in fact standing there trying to look the part does not bring balance to anything other than his own bank balance!

Enoght is enough. Paranormal TV does not do us an real justice,infact it makes the good hard-working researching investigators look like we are all nothing more than fools running around grave yards looking for cheap frights. What else can i say? I could go on about there so called scientific tools,like there hand drawn a Ouija board But apart from that there is NONE!

Yvette Fielding And crew !

You made millions of pounds making the world Look stupid With your Most FAKED Haunted and your other poor side line show,ghosthunting with the cast of Only Way Is Essex. Another bunch of useless people, non-celebrity you could muster? .enough is enough! I hope the Really Channel TV programmes see in the end to axe yiur show as its not even close to entertaining anymore I guess that’s all I have to say.

I know spirits exist because I have personally had experience of them. However, ‘Most Haunted’ was for me the biggest load of rubbish to ever hit our screens. It did irreparable damage to the subject of parapsycholgy and the paranormal and this was to the subjects detriment.

how do you KNOW spirits exist ? I would be interested to know what your experience is.If you saw a ghost how do you know that it wasn’t your own brain projecting the image to you or some other as yet misunderstood physiological process? Yes,you might be correct in that spirits may indeed be the essence of a dead person or some such but you or I,or anybody does not KNOW for certain.I feel that we all must keep an open mind and try to think critically until such time we do know for sure.
If it ever turns out that you are correct and I am wrong I will humbly apologize in public.

Totally agree with everyone on here, I ran a paranormal group for over ten years and gave up the ghost [sorry for the pun], when Most Haunted appeared on our screens. Every time we would be asked to investigate a building, the owner would say things like “I hope you haven’t got a silly screaming blonde in your group” or ” You haven’t got a fake medium like they use in Most Haunted have you” And to make it worse whenever we wanted to investigate a building Most Haunted had been to, guess what, the owners wanted us to pay £300 to hold an investigation, where as before it would have been free.
After a 6 year break of not investigating, I got a small paranormal team together last year and all is going well for us. Even though Most Haunted has somehow managed to wangle its way back onto the Really Channel I don’t think it’ll get many viewers as its so bad and the screaming lady is still at it!!! And they never use any real equipment to gather important evidence, with their camcorders facing themselves, they will never catch anything. But Most Haunted should definitely be taken off our TV screens.

Haley,This very afternoon just before coming to your website I listened to a podcast interview.It was James Whale interviewing Yvette Fielding .I had to laugh because there she was slagging off so called psychics as being fake (she is right) whist all the time she is faking paranormal activity on her tv show ( in my opinion)
Her tv show is not even well done.Only the most gullible are fooled by the fake evidence they show.It amazes me that even though there is clear evidence of their fakery available online for all to see ,and it really is obvious, certain people will still insist that it is all real and the evidence sound ! It drives me nuts!
I have a friend that watches Most Haunted.I have shown him evidence of fakery that was caught on video and audio and he will not accept it.he just point blank refuses to think in any depth about it.I will never understand that attitude.
makes you wonder who the mugs are mind because Fielding and her husband have made many millions with that tv show.
Again ,I would remind people to try to be open minded.Ghosts might be dead people,might not be dead people.Until we find out try to think critically and not be closed minded either way.

I used to believe it was real. People believing in strange things isn’t uncommon so I don’t agree that only the most gullible are fooled by such things. If you want to understand this then perhaps you ought to study the psychology of belief and superstition a bit more? There are some great books on there. The best thing to do is to not take it so personally when people believe in what you think are silly ideas. That’s life.

In our house we call it Least Haunted. What is required is a proper scientific investigative show, however, the TV companies would never commission such a programme as they are only interested in guaranteed results through fakery.

Most Haunted isn’t the most credible show and I am aware of this of course. But on the other hand Most Haunted isn’t the only show out there that has mislead the viewers. TV shows that do investigations are a little more about getting viewers then the evidence. So, in other words what I’m saying is if you are going to put up an article that’s fine. But on the other hand you might want to also acknowledge others as well. Just saying that’s all.

Yes, after 16 seasons of tricks instead of treats, I’m glad to see Yvette has finally discovered EVP (she seems to have turned into a warrior crone in the process)- I know the guys will love Leah Walton, but can we find a ‘nice girl’ who at least isn’t totally mental on an investigation? Walking her into a dark area is akin to beating a dog, it’s just not cricket. If any of this is to be believed we really must keep a camera on Karl Beattie at all times, the man obviously can’t be trusted. Take your eyes off him for a second, there are mirrors crashing, equipment smashing…ugliness.

The sheer longevity of the “Most Daunted” series is proof of only one thing- there are a lot of gullible people in the world. No one possessing even a smidgen of intelligence could believe the “show” put on by the Yvette, Karl and the crew. My introduction to the ‘Cirque de So Bad’ was an investigation in a library… There were books flying off the shelves right and left, which started my “fake” alarms going off all over the place. Cameras locked on faces (absolutely insures viewers wouldn’t get a good look at any activity; or see the ‘cast hijinks’); Stones constantly being thrown -so much so it earned Stuart Torevell the nickname “Pebbles” (just plain ridiculous, physical object movement happens once in a great while); So much talking, screaming, whining and well, just plain drama- they couldn’t catch an EVP if their lives depended on it. Honestly, absolutely clueless investigating. In the end they’re good for a laugh, great for information about wonderful historic locations around UK, and brilliant for mindless chatter when I just want a little background noise for some mundane task I’m performing. Cheers!

It’s a joke of a program, has been since series 1, episode 1. There’s one clip that hasn’t been spotted by anyone else as far as I’m aware, where Karl & a.n.other are in the roof space in I think a theatre, and as the camera pans across him you can see as clear as day that he has something in his hand – it looks to me like a small light bulb.

They turn (camera too) to face a direction, and from behind them comes a loud “bang” – just the kind of loud sound you get when a light bulb (which has a vacuum inside it) pops.

I’m convinced that Karl simply throws the bulb behind him as everyones attention is misdirected elsewhere.

Anyway, I wish they still had the MH forum live on the Living website, I used to have a whale of a time on there winding up gullible fools like Andrew G & the gang of “believers” – “I have your grandad here, he wants you to know he’s happy flying his Spitfire around Heaven – you know what I mean don’t you, it does mean something to you doesn’t it, you can deny it all you want but I KNOW it’s true, etc”.

He honestly said that to me once to try and prove his psychic powers. My grandad was in the merchant Navy.

Sadly there are those who will swallow MH’s tripe still, even after they’ve been caught red handed so many times.

Hi Hayley, “Methods they use”? Are you implying there was some sort of rigorous effort employed to actually capture and document evidence? Say what you will about EVP, I’ve been a tech for 8 years and am convinced with the technology and software we have coming to the forefront we’re one hair’s breadth away from establishing clear, real-time communication with who or whatever populates the dimension beyond the veil. (Of course the first academic to publish a study will grab credit for 70+ yrs of investigation by numerous conscientious individuals)

During recording sessions, I’ve logged many audio files littered with knocks and raps. Formerly falling under the banner of pseudo-science: These unexplained percussive sounds investigators hear (and record)? Might want to check out an article in the last journal published by the Society for Psychical Research- “The Acoustic Properties of Unexplained Rapping Sounds” written by Barrie G. Colvin; He’s a member of the SPR’s Spontaneous Cases Committee. Colvin identifies very specific differences between the sound signature of someone physically striking a wall or ceiling and those of anomalous knocks and raps. Can a study substantiating EVP wave forms as a completely unique and verifiable entity be far behind?

I’m not sure it’s accurate to suggest EVP is no longer classed as pseudo-science. It certainly is a psuedo-science as there is no known mechanism through which the dead continue to exist, let alone communicate via electronic equipment. The research from Colvin you mention wasn’t without its problems. C J Romer wrote a great piece about the rappings here that goes into some of the issues.

It also requires a leap of logic to go from saying ‘this is interesting’ to ‘this is evidence of something supernatural’ so I’m not sure what contribution that makes to this particular topic. It is my view (and I’m certainly not alone in saying this) that by placing importance upon a certain anomaly people often fall into the trap of assuming the proof has been found of something paranormal when this origin cannot be substantiated. Sure, an anomaly may be interesting and worth further research but we have to be careful what conclusions we take from that. Just because something doesn’t seem to have an explanation doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Yes, I know, Ockham’s Razor. For me- I’ve been recording in a concentrated effort for years (don’t know how much time you’ve spent in headphones…) and during that time have experienced several instances of Spirit generated precognition, both short and long term (the event might happen that afternoon or 3 months from the initial message). Frequently crystal clear voices appear on audio file that were not apparent to those in the room (i.e. male voices interjecting while 2 women conduct a session in an otherwise empty structure).

I’m not claiming to know exactly who or what is communicating, but, most definitely, complex thoughts are getting through. It’s just unfortunate the scientific community is so unyielding regarding PSI phenomena. Interesting new developments on the horizon though: http://www.opensciences.org

Can I just add something in response to the comments made by Kenda Elise – I am a qualified electronics engineer and worked in the field of signal detection, filtering, and amplification, one of the projects I worked on was for the Stealth Bomber, and in my most humble of opinions EVP is one of the biggest crocks of nonsense ever to sully the subject, perhaps only pipped ever so slightly to the post by magnetic field nonsense.

In order for sound to be made air has to be made to vibrate. We humans use a voice box to do it – what mechanism could a disembodied spirit use?

The idea that they “make sound” and “speak” at a “higher frequency” that needs to be down converted in frequency to fall within the range of the Human ear suggests that they must be equipped with some kind of electronic superheterodyne device that creates electromagnetic waves that can only be intercepted and interpreted by other electronic equipment.

Scalar waves (as promoted on MH as the “breakthrough” in EVP) are, in practice (i.e. outside of equations), utter nonsense.

Electromagnetic waves vary naturally, the very inaccurate and unscientific devices used by “ghost hunters” are useless, they are neither calibrated nor static, so you end up with useless equipment being used and the readings interpreted by scientifically illiterate idiots who simply draw whatever conclusion they wanted to find at the start from their “readings”.

Like people who believe in orbs being spirits, once a belief is embedded in the mind of someone who wants (or needs) to believe, you can’t rationalise it away, it becomes part of their core visualisation of who they are, how the world works (or how they’d like it to), and how they fit into it.

Their beliefs give them some sense of self worth, to attack their beliefs is to attack them, or their internalised view of themselves as a person.

In my opinion – I think that’s why this nonsense prevails.

2 final thoughts if I may for the ghost believers, along the same lines as the “how does a ghost make a sound” line:

1) How can a disembodied spirit with no ear drums hear what you’re saying to it?
2) How can a transparent entity see? – If light is passing through them, from the front, back, top, and sides of their “head” (if they have one), then how can an image form on the retina that they don’t have?

etc

It’s amazing that in the 21st Century we still have people who believe in “ghosts”.

Great website Hayley, you’re a beacon of intelligence in a very dim corner of the world.

Of course it’s not real, that’s why they now have a disclaimer at the top of the show stating that it’s for “entertainment purposes only “.
They’re doing it for fun now with only Torevell still taking the faking seriously.
Oh and Fred Batt. Bring back Acorah, he was hilarious. Batt is a seriously deluded man. I get the impression that he is constantly on the verge of losing it at having to put up with everyone else’s silliness.

Btw, I’d be fascinated to hear your opinions on the American style of paranormal shows, especially a disturbing programme called “A Haunting”. Disturbing in the sense that it takes itself very very seriously and presents its evidence as fact. The format is simple; the performers – usually a family and, perhaps tellingly, they are mostly from Southern States and devoutly religious – relate in detail their experiences of ghosts, poltergeists or demonic entities, with sections dramatically portrayed by actors.
The “possession” progresses as you’d imagine until its inevitably ended via an “exorcism” and the family goes on to live a happy life, free from their horrible haunting.

I find it all a bit distasteful as the so called psychics and church “representatives” inevitably whip the poor families into a frenzy of religious fervour until they genuinely believe that they are having a supernatural experience.

I’m also ashamed to admit that I’m hooked. It’s bloody hilarious at times.

About me

Hayley is a ghost geek and started to blog in 2007. She uses scientific scepticism to investigate weird stuff and writes about it here while also speaking publicly about how to hunt ghosts as a skeptic.